Some blogger by the name of Richard Silverstein has decided to talk trash about Pajamas Media, and a number of sites associated with the project.

The blogworld is buzzing about a new development: a group of political bloggers is banding together to create Pajamas Media, an aggregated blog (think HuffingtonPost) featuring authors of many stripes, though almost all are on the rightward end of the spectrum. Their purpose is to persuade the visitors to all of these separate blogs to come together and spend their time at Pajamas Media buying products offered there. A multi-author blog will (the founders hope) give the new site the heft needed to bring major online advertisers to the venture and pay the participants handsomely for their efforts.

I would like to know where Silverstein gets this information from since it is, you know.. wrong. There has been no talk of selling products from the site. If Silverstein had even bothered read the “About Us” section on the Pajamas Media site, he would have learned that “Key details..are under wraps.”

Silverstein then goes on to take potshots at many Pajamas Media contributors. His method is to scour the archives of some of the blogs for “incriminating posts”, and then point out how we are all Likudnik, Muslim-haters who thinks that anyone who ever criticizes Israel is anti-Semitic. What he does succeed in doing, though, is painting himself as a somewhat misguided and ignorant old man.

Leaving aside the fact that the screenshot is nowhere to be seen at the provided link, I fail to see how the above post is indicative of an “obsessive compulsive disorder” or “need to find anti-Semitism everywhere.” It clearly illustrates the double standards and hypocrisy inherent in the world’s attitude towards the Middle East conflict, but nowhere is an accusation of anti-Semitism made in the post.

When Silverstein turns his attention to me, all he can come up with is this:

Of course not. I hate the Islamic terrorists, and I make a point to distinguish between them and “moderate” Muslims, for whom I have the utmost respect.

So, Dave, do all “good Muslims” have to be Israeli collaborators?

Actually, Silverstein, you have to understand what an “Israeli collaborator” does. They tip-off the IDF as to the whereabouts of terrorists. You know, those people who have a habit of blowing up, shooting, and otherwise murdering people who happen to be Jewish? This allows our army to find the terrorists and kill them before the innocent people are killed. So yes, that makes them “good Muslims.” Does a Muslim have to be an Israeli collaborator to be a “good”? Of course not, but they have to oppose the deliberate murder of innocent people. Just like a Jew who does not oppose the deliberate murder of innocent people is not a “good Jew.” Come to think of it, Silverstein, I see that Rafah Pundits – a blog that posted an obituary of a vicious terrorist – is on your blogroll…

Update: Silverstein has corrected his post in response to my comments, by merely changing his original post (especially the section about Atlas Shrugs), rather than posting updates. Is it just me, or is this a rather dishonest way of responding to my arguments, and against “blog etiquette”? At the very least, it is a convenient way of avoiding the arguments I have raised.

An Aussie immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave is founder and managing editor of Israellycool, one of the world's most popular pro-Israel blogs (and the one you are currently reading)
He is a happy family man, and a lover of steak, Australian sports and girlie drinks

"..the notorious Israellycool.com, which gently skips between right-wing rants against Islam, posts about science fiction and - what else? - blogs about the Eurovision song contest." - Tim Jonze, The Guardian

"Posting from Israelly cool is like posting from Der Sturmer. "Probably the most infamous was ‘Der Stűrmer’ by the anti-Semite Julius Streicher who claimed that ‘Der Stűrmer’ was Hitler’s favourite read. However, Goebbels viewed the newspaper as little more than a ‘daily rag’ and believed that it was more likely to harm the regime than present it in its best light such was the paucity of its contents that occasionally bordered on the pornographic." Good old Aussie dan fits the definition perfectly" - Greta Berlin